Karger

This still raises the question of why Honor thought they might be of use against Odium.

Perhaps the dawnshards were used for making surge fabrials? We know Aimia had one and they were the place to go for soulcasting information. We also know they "bind any creature" and that surge fabrials involve one or more bound spren.

Who made Ye olde Tyme Capsule? What if they told someone while drunk and they made a hemalurgy cult?

It could have been power that did not divide. That would make it of all the shards equally.

Squires don't have blades. Until a third ideal is sworn a skybreaker is a squire. They get their plate at oath four(same as windrunners). Edgedancers also get blades at oath three. That gives us three very different orders who all get blades at the same time. Lightweavers are a bit odd because of their truths and bondsmiths don't get blades. Something might present itself(although I seriously doubt it) but in the meantime I don't really think it necessary to look for more proof. He swore it at the end of OB. Still no blade.

I don't really think so. He is thousands of years old he could do that without pewter. Why would he bother burning it?

Gavilar was actually a good politian. Not sure what you mean by Sadeas's vision. He was in it for the short term. Was an actual example of treason. It was not subtle it was actually quite heavy handed. A smarter way of doing things would have been to have Elhokar make some kind of new regulation that would make it impossible for the smiths to stay in business. All silversmith shops must be located in this part of the city for taxation reasons.

You mean Bronze?

I wonder what movies Hoid is going to be in/direct in the modern age of Scadrian cinema...

Welcome to the shard! Do you have a favorite magic system?

It does not compress exactly. As I explained if there are no thinking beings in that part of space then that part of space will not have a corresponding area in shadesmar. However if you walk(or sail) across an inhabited area it will take the same amount of time(potentially more as Shadesmar can be rough).

We don't yet know their actual magic system. Presumably it is related to the shades.

He has also spent time collecting Selish powers. We know that he was trying to become an elantrain. He was not successful his first time and I have no idea what else he could have picked up while still on Sel. He did try and get feruchemy but we don't know if he was successful. Also he was spotted on taldain so he might be able to master sand(we don't know) and he bought some breath while on Nalthis.

We don't know that they are. Szeth's spren has yet to make an appearance but it is recently bonded and anyway it might be a bit scared of NB. If they are actually distant I can think of a number of reasons. Perhaps it is because Justice is such an elusive concept(must more so then Honor, Faith of Growth). Perhaps they just have a hard time showing themselves(some spren are like that). Perhaps they don't want to interfere too much with their Radiant's judgements.

Surgebinding is the same. Do you have a favorite cosmere series?

Brandon before speed!

I read as quickly as anyone I know and my top speed is 200 pages per hour. How on earth is that possible?

I understand but too many of my friends are academics. I look for the questions behind the questions.

This is a very old argument. Governments that can't effectively balance local concerns against national interests tend to collapse. However if you are too inclusive you run the risk of having citizens that don't really believe in the nation's agenda. The Spanish and Roman empires are respective examples of this. That is an interesting point. The Alethi don't really have a tradition of courtly intrigue and subtle power displays. They are going off what they know. It is just that what they know is ill suited to what they have to accomplish. Perhaps Jasnah will establish the monarchy as a more feminine job? That could be interesting.

My point is that I don't see any way for this hypothetical dilemma to actually be true.

I never implied that politics are as you phrased it, "purely co-operational," that implies that all individuals are voluntarily participating in some kind of political system. That is obviously not always the case. Plenty of people engage in poltics well openly or covertly working against political systems for example. In the US doing so is actually in vogue. This is also all pretty irrelevant since I am not interested in Alethi government. My point was instead in that the Alethi highprinces as political actors, the individuals who make choices in the government, are actually pretty terrible at it. Only two of them have clearly stated objectives, goals, or causes. The rest simple vacillate between different perceived or real intimidate goals. If Elhokar were smart enough to time some good concessions to cooperative highprinces or play them against each other in a manner that exhausted them and enriched the crown I honestly don't think any of them would give him much trouble. Really why?

Those are both good points. That statement is out of context. It briefly mentions dictatorship as a "form of government" under the subheading for political systems. However a political system is defined as and a government is defined as

Sure, Dalinar himself notes this. However even political leaders like heads of state have some experience at being team players. They have actual policy goals. Effective political leaders find positions and entrench themselves accumulating political capital as they work toward their long term goals. Sebarial is actually a good example of this. He has no real interest in being feared or respected. His goal is to gain financial independence significant enough to secure his own safety as well as prosperity for his own people. To this end he is willing to work with other people or even suborn himself to a greater authority. What are Sadeas's goals? He wants to be feared and respected. To this end he is actually fairly ineffective. He makes himself hated and manages to get a few other highprinces to go along but it does not last. His deals are based on the political capital he has already accumulated personally. They don't last and he alienates everyone else around him. That is really semantic. Dictators need people to carry out their will. No one has every really become god emperor for very long without will administrators, advisors, and supporters. Even if the relationship between dictator and subject is unequal it still involves some form of cooperation.

Welcome! Do you approve of how Ranette treats him?

Dalinar spends most of the first two books bemoaning his lack of political fineness. He feels outplayed by the others and is unable to win support for his causes from the other highprinces. He is angry that the other highprinces are not acting like soldiers but instead acting like politicians. The thing is. I don't think that any of them were actually any good at politics. Politics. The thing is none of the other highprinces actually make decisions in groups. They make brief alliances when they have to but those are all based on immediate personal gain. None of the Highprinces had any actual goals beyond immediate advantage except for two, Sebarial and Dalinar. Sadeas is fine at setting traps for his opponents like at the duel or the tower but he can't get people to work with him long term. It is also worth noting that Dalinar actually managed the same thing with Amaram. I personally think this is symptomatic of the fact that the majority of the highprinces are all former generals who are not acting according to their training. They would rather be fifth rate politicians then second rate generals.